Name: PinsandKneazles (Signed) · Date: 25 Jan 2022 11:26 AM · For: Dominique

Tag!

 

I had to stop by and review this one, just because. Because we pretty much have ALL assumed that Dominique is a female. It sounds more like a female name, right? Or just has a sound which reminds us more of female names. I wonder if JKR gave it any further thought after she'd pulled the names out of a hat when someone must have asked her what Bill and Fleur's kids were called, without really considerig that it's one of those names which may be used for both males and females. And this story reminds me of a guy I once met, called Lindsay. I never asked him, but I expect he'd also received letters addressed to a "Miss" instead of a "Mister". 

 

Lol at Dominique hating all owls, even the wild ones, because they're tainted by association. I think it's terrible that Hogwarts failed to get it right - what were the school thinking of? Would it have set Dominique up in a girls' dormitory? What if he'd been in Gryffindor - would he have managed the girls' staircase or would he have set the klaxon off every time he wanted to retire to bed? 

 

I understand Dominique not wanting to be saddled with the name of Dominique outside of France, but Steve? Really? I mean, there's nothing particularly wrong with Steve, but Victoire, Steve and Louis don't really go together well as names, and Steve Weasley has far too many 'e' sounds in there...

 

Pahahahahah!! Charlie = dragons. Harry = Voldemort. Dominique = pretty!!!! I'm sure he's much more than pretty. He's rather funny and was good enough at Quidditch to be scouted by the Harpies, and good at Charms. Charms can be enjoyed by anyone - look at Professor Flitwick! He's no girl. Dominique is only one eighth Veela, though- does one eighth of a Veela have much influence over someone's beauty? And never knock the luminous skin...

 

I'd love to know if 'Nick' managed to get anywhere with George, haha!!

 

This was amazing - glad I came across it!

 

Meera <3

 

 

Author's Response:

Thank you, Meera! I loved writing this one. If I ever get back to writing next gen again, I'm going to make Dom a dude. And actually, a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (when I first wrote this fic, 10+ years ago) I did want to write a follow-up story about "Nick" and George. Just didn't have any actual firm ideas for it. Maybe some day!

 

<3 Melanie

Name: TidalDragon (Signed) · Date: 27 Jan 2020 07:10 PM · For: Dominique

Howdy!

 

I wasn't sure what to expect when the first three lines hit, but then the naming hilarity ensued. You can absolutely tell Dominique (why doesn't he just go by Dom? I feel like it gives of a bit of a manlier vibe) has a chip on his shoulder even before we get into the naming issue, but man does that chip turn into a boulder, spiraling down into becoming a fashion columnist at Witch Weekly. Despite his attitude, which feels about three-quarters snark and one-quarter resigned, you do sort of empathize with him. Fortunately I haven't had to wrangle with it, but I've had a friend named Morgan and a friend named Taylor and they always used to get junk mail addressing them as women too. Still, all the cards really are dealt against him given the Veela situation on top of it all.

 

I found the Teddy Lupin interlude interesting. Though it was sort of a throw-away section, I'll say I was confused about that. Maybe it was to underscore that even folks close to the family like to taunt him and that he can't even escape there, but yeah. There's that.

 

Thanks for sharing!

Author's Response:

Hi Kevin,

This was a fun, stupid little thing to write. Can't recall how I got the idea in my head in the first place, but I was just tickled by this idea of this dude dealing with this problem and blaming his mom for trying to hard (in his opinion) to be overly posh. It's meant to be inane and over the top.

 

The part with Teddy -- I think it doesn't make itself clear at all, it was more in my head -- but at the time I wrote this, years ago, I recall everyone and their mother in fanfiction was shipping Dominique/Teddy as a response to the canon pairing Victoire/Teddy. There were so many fics where Teddy chooses Dom over Vic, or Dom and Vic are competing with each other, or Dom is secretly in love with Teddy and jealous of her sister, or what have you. So this was a little wink and nod to Dominique/Teddy pairings. What my Dom thinks of Teddy is decidedly different than all of those. This entire piece is sort of a wink to fanfiction in general, because when Dominique says everyone always assumes he's a girl, it doesn't just mean everyone in the wizarding world...it means everyone in our world as well!

 

Thanks for the review!

Melanie

Name: potionspartner (Signed) · Date: 14 Dec 2019 01:33 PM · For: Dominique

Melanie,

I’m my goodness, this was absolutely hilarious! It is such an interesting point-of-view/plot concept that I never would have considered and you pulled it off beautifully. 

The part comparing his family name versus the first names just cracked me up. I remember when I first heard the names of Bill and Fleur’s children I thought “How French. They sound weird with Weasley.” Fleur thought she was pretty enough for both her and her injured husband. I guess she just thought the first names must be beautiful enough to counter the last name.

Then the comparison to other first names: muscular Charlie, famed Harry-spot on. “And then there’s me. A veritable cloud of androgyny”--great line!

I never thought about Owl junk mail. Someone needs to invent a spell to send those to the junk folder. 

It’s nice to see that he found a girl who might just might be perfect for him. I know at least one of his uncles that will love her name. 

 

Perhaps he should consider swimming through the red tape at the Ministry of Magic to get his name changed. (If magic allows such a thing.)  His mother might be upset but she’ll probably forgive him. As long as he names his and George’s first child something French.

Author's Response:

Hey thank you so much for this review! I had a lot of fun with "Nick's" character. I do really love Fleur but I see her still coming off a little self-satisfied sometimes, and there being a little culture clash between her and Bill (and maybe other Weasleys), and her kids just rolling their eyes about it.

I see Dominique as just hanging onto his newly adopted nickname Nick, but his mom is definitely gonna cry dramatically about it. :D

 

Melanie

Name: cambangst (Signed) · Date: 21 Nov 2019 02:58 PM · For: Dominique

Hi, Melanie! I wanted to hit you back after those awesome reviews you left me. And you know what? You can also write, my, umm... dudette?

Anyway, on to the show. This is a really clever premise, and I really love the voice that you gave to Dominique. I've seen a few really clever stories that case Dom as a male, and the authors usually have a subdued amount of fun with the situation. You, of course, have veered healthily away from "subdued." Drawing out all the angst and bitterness, the blame he heaps upon his mother and the laundry list of awful outcomes. Oh, and the fact that Teddy makes fun of him. I kind of like to believe that Teddy does that to all of his younger "cousins".

Granted, this is only the second one of your pieces that I've reviewed, but I already feel like I'm falling into the habit of building my reviews around pull quotes. It's a compliment. You are really, really good at turning a phrase. I'm going to restrain myself to two:

I get really excited when I’m addressed as "Ms.," because it makes me feel liberated. -- This is just brilliant. You would need a roll of paper towels to wipe up all of the sarcasm pouring off of this line.

Empirically, I suppose I’m attractive, but no girl wants to date a guy who’s prettier than her. -- I don't know for sure whether this is true, but I'm totally willing to run with it for purposes of this story. I'm sure it's true when you're talking about a guy who complains about being prettier than his date.

The way you wrap things up is endearing. After all the difficulties Dom has suffered, I hope things go really well for him and George. If not, hopefully there's a Shaun or a Pat or maybe a Quinn out there waiting for him.

Very well written. I couldn't see any typos or grammatical problems or anything else that disrupted the flow. You pick your words well and the story rolls off of the page. Neither piece I've read from you so far feels as long as it actually is. Great job!

-Dan

 

Author's Response:

LOL @ "dudette." Please excuse me. I am Californian and everybody to me is a dude - I way overuse it IRL.

Yes, whenever I get into writing humor, I am often not subtle.

I liked throwing in the part about Teddy because it seemed that since Teddy/Victoire is canon, fanfic likes to write a lot of Teddy/Dom where Dom is Vic's sister. So here's Nick's response to that!

You're so thoughtful and kind in these reviews especially quoting lines back to me - I don't know if you identify with this feeling, but sometimes you just write a line in whatever you're working on and you think to yourself, "Hell yeah! I want someone to read this sentence right now!"

I look forward to Nick making appearances in other fics moving forward even if I don't necessarily do a Nick/George follow-up (even though I have contemplated that before!)

Melanie